Legal issues and news

Security firm Intezer Labs is warning consumers using cryptocurrency wallet apps that a new malware strain is attacking and draining those wallets of crypto assets.

Congress acted first when it freed financial firms from having to disclose the beneficial owners of commercial clients. Now it's time for regulators to further ease anti-money-laundering reporting requirements by freeing them from filing duplicative or unnecessary suspicious activity reports.

With the advances in technology and digitization, and evolving security threats, it’s time for smarter, more robust authentication methods, says Entersekt's Dewald Nolte.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated a 2015 consent order that required the bank to improve its controls for combating money laundering.

The CFPB issued two rulemakings in 2020 that the financial services industry and consumer advocates hoped would finally clarify key issues over how collectors contact debtors and deal with legacy debts. But both sides want the incoming Biden administration to make further changes.

The events of 2020 fueled new customer expectations, accelerated digital transformation and allowed B2B companies to react and deliver. But customers’ changing expectations are not going to disappear, says MSTS' Brandon Spear.

With the new Congress sworn in, trade associations are already pushing their legislative wish lists, including more regulatory oversight of fintechs and protecting the industry's tax exemption.

Congress's enactment of the defense spending bill opposed by the White House removes the final hurdle for a key anti-money-laundering provision.

In December, the National Credit Union Administration barred the individuals from working in the financial services sector for taking money from their institutions for personal use.

An impasse over pandemic relief checks for Americans is holding up an override of President Trump's veto of a bill shifting beneficial-owner requirements from banks to their commercial clients.

The latest cyberattacks pointing to the Russian government show that U.S. federal agencies and banks still lack a clear, collaborative game plan.

The Securities and Exchange Commission last week accused Ripple of breaking securities laws, raising questions about the future of banks' ties with the company.

The new legislation includes a provision sparing lenders from having to pay such fees on Paycheck Protection Program loans, except in cases where they agree in advance with borrower representatives to do so.

With Microsoft, Equifax and others acknowledging that the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government entities had affected their holdings, security teams and vendors have put the holiday aside while continuing around-the-clock surveillance to ensure no financial services or payments networks have been hacked.

As risk rises and budgets tighten post-pandemic, training all employees about security risks and conducting quarterly penetration tests helps to offset threats and potential losses.

By upgrading permissions and defining access, firms can get ahead of the new threat, says vArmour's Marc Woolword.

The Pittsburgh bank says the data aggregator deceptively uses PNC's logo in obtaining bank customers' login credentials.

The Federal Reserve and the New York State Department of Financial Services have ordered the Swiss bank’s U.S. arm to improve oversight and better monitor the activities of its customers.

Congress’s passage of a measure requiring startup companies — instead of their banks — to identify true owners was arguably the industry’s biggest legislative achievement in 2020. Now the industry is urging lawmakers to revisit proposals that would ease other anti-money-laundering reporting requirements.

The bank's release from a five-year-old enforcement action would mark progress in CEO Charlie Scharf's efforts to resolve its sprawling regulatory problems. But 10 more consent orders, including an asset cap imposed by the Federal Reserve in 2018, remain in place.